Wolves release Johnson, bring roster to 15

The Wolves released center Chris Johnson Saturday. The decision was prompted both by the strong play of Robbie Hummel and A.J. Price and by the team’s depth in the post.

“We’re going in that direction,” Wolves coach Rick Adelman said after Saturday’s lengthy practice. “We thought Robbie and A.J. have done a really good job. They’ve earned spots. And we feel with (Nikola) Pekovic and Rony (Turiaf), they have played well, as has (Gorgui Dieng). So we’re comfortable with those guys.”

By waiving Johnson the team will have to pay off his $916,000 salary.

Johnson played sparingly during the preseason, so the move doesn’t come as a big surprise. This move, coupled with the release Friday of Othyus Jeffers and Lorenzo Brown has the team’s roster at the league-mandated 15-man limit. But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of the team making a late move to augment the roster.

But Adelman said he liked his roster. “These guys have all earned their spots,” he said. “(Price and Hummel) really earned it. They played well the whole month they’ve been with us.”

In other news from today’s practice:

--The Wolves made it official, exercising the options on Ricky Rubio ($5 million) and Derrick Williams (almost $6.7 million) for the 2014-15 season.

--Adelman has still not decided on who will be his starter at the small forward position in Wednesday’s opener. Or that the Wednesday starter will be the starter going forward. “It’s not written in stone whatever happens,” Adelman said.

--The Wolves practiced extensively Saturday, and will do so again Sunday before shortening it up a bit in the two days prior to Wednesday’s opener.

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Jerry Zgoda missed the entire Kevin Garnett era, but he's back covering the Timberwolves after working the beat for their first four seasons two decades ago. In between, he covered a bit of everything: Gopher men's and women's basketball and NCAA athletics, golf, outdoor recreation, sports media and a little Vikings and Twins.